Advent Reflection - First Sunday of Advent

Be watchful! Be alert! (Mark 13:33)

Advent teaches us that the Christian life forms us to live in hope, abiding in prayerful alertness. Our faith in the Mystery of the Incarnation schools our spirits in the art of sustained trust. The indwelling Holy Spirit nurtures within us a steady vigilance of the heart, a docile attentiveness to God who indwells us while exceeding our capacity to hold the One who came, is coming, and is to come. Grace teaches Christians how to live fruitfully between Egypt and Canaan, to see the radiance of Christ reflected in baptismal gowns and funeral palls. We are continually on the move from Holy Saturday dusk to Easter dawn, propelled like Mary by the Archangel’s mysterious greeting, toward the cosmic unveiling of the Angel of Judgment.

And so, every Advent the Church blesses us with powerful words and symbols to guide us through these weeks of darkening days brimming with hope, of carols both joyful and melancholy. Throughout these four weeks, God’s Pilgrim People proclaim the story and break the bread. Steadfastly watchful and gently alert, we journey together through the dark night, in the company of Wise Men, shepherds, and flocks of sheep. A star lights our path to a Virgin Mother, a biblical Just Man, and God’s Justice-Made-Flesh. As we steadfastly persist in hearing and proclaiming, in taking and eating, may grace gradually refashion us against every odd to abide in faith and remain steadfast in hope, until the New Creation, born in a stable, overturns for all time the dark injustice of the old.